Atlas Obscura's Obscura Day of weird expeditions and strange tours

Seen above is the "Door to Hell" in Turkmenistan, Darvaza. It's one of many locales around the world where curiosity-seekers will celebrate the second annual Obscura Day on April 9, organized by our friends at the Atlas Obscura directory of wondrous travel destination. Dylan Thuras sent me this sampling from the list of events lined up so far:

In London - Join the Adventurists for films and cocktails in the historic Royal Geographical Society Map Room

In San Francisco - The National Parks Service is leading an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of Alcatraz followed by drinks at a local speakeasy

In Los Angeles - Wander the Magic Castle and mingle with Magicians while sipping Cocktails

In Brooklyn - Marvel at a recreation of Coney circa 1910, see the worlds best sideshow performers, and meet the stars of Discovery's Oddities

In Florence - Explore the macabre and beautiful La Specola anatomical museum

In Paris - Join an expedition into the abandoned ruins of a Victorian-era tropical botanical garden

In Rome - Go underground to explore ancient catacombs

In New Zealand - Tour the museum of extraordinary visual design company WETA best known for their work on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

In Antartica - Join in a celebration of the hundred year anniversary of the heroic (and tragic) Amundsen and Scott race to the South Pole.

Oscura Day

• [SeferinoDC]

  My name’s Seth with Atlas Obscura. Talia…where do you live? Maybe we can setup an event near you. Keep checking back. The events wil keep coming and coming. If you have any questions feel free to give me a shout at [e-mail].

  Thanks, Boing Boing!

• [StevieB]

  Definitely worth checking out, sucks hours of my life away every week.. (tho that could also be down to crappy mobile broadband…)

• [Anonymous]

  I’ve got perfect timing as usual. I will actually be in London on the 9th, but I’m leaving that morning for York and then I’m due in Edinburgh by the evening. :(

• [Zadaz]

  Iv’e done three of the ones listed above, so I guess they don’t seem that weird or strange to me.

  Fun though. Except for the National Park Service guys aren’t as much fun Phil Hartman led me to believe.

• [autark]

  I drove to through Darvaza this summer, which is not really a town so much as an X on the map where all that is left is the crater (the town has been bulldozed). We hit the crater a few hours after sunset and camped out at the base of the surrounding dunes a few kilometers away.

  Amazing.

  Alien creatures crawling around in the sand, and hot blasts of air shooting out of the ground as you stand at the crater’s edge, it’s like a different planet.

  http://rally.roamgreen.org/2010/08/13/salam-alaykum-turkmenistan/

• [Talia]

  Yay! I had an amazing time last year, so happy they are doing it again.

• [catgrin]

  Los Angeles still has plenty open. Bought 2 tix for Betalevel in Chinatown. My uncle lives nearby, so I should be able to grab him for lunch followed by afternoon exploring!

• [Talia]

  Hmm, I see a lot of things near me have already sold out. That’s unfortunate. Ah well.